Teen makes miracle comeback after dying on basketball court

To look at 17-year-old Henderson Lentz now, you’d never have a clue that six months ago he was lifeless with no pulse on the side of a basketball court.

"He didn't collapse, he just kind of looked like he was sliding into his bench," Henderson's mom, Jill Lentz, said.

She was recording his game on her cell phone when she saw her son go down, face first on the ground.

"It's like everything just shut down," she said. "It was just Henderson, it was just me."

Henderson had a sudden cardiac arrest and lost pulse and breathe for 12 minutes. For those 12 minutes, coaches and an off-duty EMT came to his aid, performing CPR and even shocking him with an automated defibrillator.

So much time passed, bystanders took Jill Lentz out of the gym so she wouldn’t see them give up on her dying son. She remembers very clearly a coach coming to say, “Henderson is asking for you.”

Rescuers were able to get the boy’s pulse back and he regained consciousness. He’s fought a long battle over the last 6 months, but is now returning to the basketball court for his team, the North Rowan High School Cavaliers.

“They ran all the tests that they could do and they never did find anything wrong, so I’m just trusting that the Lord will keep me safe,” Henderson said.

Henderson now credits God with changing his life for the better that Tuesday in July.

“The Sunday before I had actually prayed that the Lord would give me a testimony and somewhat break me and make me humble,” Henderson said. “He gave me that opportunity two days later.”

Tuesday night, the North Rowan Cavaliers won in the second round of the Sam Moir Classic at Catawba College with a final score of 83-75.